Currently there is a commercial on TV that uses the chorus to this song in a rock climbing scene. I love the sound of the singer’s voice, so I search till I find a music video for it. Here is your song prompt. Enjoy the writing exercise today!
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Mark Your Calendar — Sell An Article
For my science fans, here’s a nugget about a celestial show you may want to watch.
Comet PANSTARRS: March 10 to 24, 2013
Comet PANSTARRS discovered in June 2011 using the Pan-STARRS 1 Telescope at Haleakala, Hawaii, is expected to put on its best show during this two-week period. During this time, the comet will also be near its closest approaches to the sun (28 million miles, or 45 million kilometers), and Earth (102 million miles, or 164 million km).
While Comet PANSTARRS was a very dim and distant object at the time of its discovery, it has brightened steadily since then. It still appears on target to reach at least first magnitude and should be visible low in the west-northwest sky shortly after sunset. On the evening of March 12, 2013, the comet will be situated 4 degrees to the right of an exceedingly crescent moon.
Why mention this now instead of in March?
Because, for those of you who write for social media like Yahoo news or e-How, now you have a time critical subject to research, write about, and sell! If you are unfamiliar with this market, as easy place to start is ezinearticles.com. Click here for the editorial guidelines: http://ezinearticles.com/editorial-guidelines/
Ezinearticles doesn’t pay for articles, but it does offer affiliate marketing. Advertisers link to your articles and you get paid for click throughs. It’s not big or easy money, but it is a place to start to learn the ropes.
Check out Associated Content. It pays for articles outright.
If you are a blogger, get paid to post at Blogger’s Pay Per Post. There are strings attached, but you can earn from $.50 to $10. per assignment piece.
Bukisa is a traffic driven buyer. So you have to write on popular topics to draw a paycheck. However, Bukisa allows you to re-post material that has been published elsewhere. So using Bukisa can double earnings on non-exclusive material.
This gives you plenty to start your at-home writing career. So start researching that comet heading our way, write an article or two, and sell, sell, sell.
Song Prompt for a Manly Friend
Today’s song prompt goes out to a regular reader who adores classical music. The first link is for his benefit. The second link is for those who like pop music. The second link shows the lyrics. Happy imagining! May the writing the song inspires be prodigious!
Classical version by Sissel and Josh Groban:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJDQ6ckZ_gk&feature=related
Television version by Christina Aguilera and Chris Mann:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcPR-riWs_M
Writing Prompt Especially for Lean
This song prompt is dedicated to Lean, a regular reader and lover of all things Southern:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5grgB-dV2o
Song: Oh, Shenandoah Vocalist: Sissel
A hauntingly beautiful rendition by an extraordinary soprano in the classical style–enjoy!
Crazy
My recent posts have included some crazy information. It’s a mad, mad world after all. In that vein, I offer you a new song prompt. It should be great fun to turn that imagination of yours loose on this theme. The song is Crazy, sung by Patsy Cline. I bet your grandmother knows this song!
Lyrics and song can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bUwPdt_ebU
End of Day–Response to Song Prompt Bizet Had His Day
Most of September’s posts were prepared in August. Consequently, the inspiration I got from first listening to Bizet Had His Day fizzled as time passed. I made the mistake of thinking I’d remember the storyline 4 weeks later. Wrong. So here’s the newly inspired short story from the early September song prompt. Hope you like it.
End of Day
by Fay Moore © 2012
The maestro is talking to the concert audience about the credentials of the solo pianist. The musician is about to play “Bizet Had His Day,” a popular composition with the annual subscribers.
“. . .attended Julliard. . .frequent guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Washington National Symphony, among others. . .guest appearances on Broadway and television. . . .”
Enthusiastic applause erupts as the performing artist walks on stage to the piano and seats himself. The house lights dim while the musician adjusts the back panels of his tuxedo jacket, ostentatiously flipping the fabric up and over the piano bench. He places his toes on the pedals, stretches his arms in front of himself to unbind the fabric of his sleeves from around his wrists and levitates his fingers over the keys. Once the audience is still as a midnight snowfall, the showman begins, playing with passion and flair.
At the conclusion, the audience explodes, the concussion of clapping reverberating through the hall as the soloist leaves the stage, after taking multiple bows. Off-stage he is patted on his back repeatedly, congratulated on another fine performance. On his way to his dressing room, he passes the make-up staff clustered around a snack table exchanging gossip, jokes and plans for the evening. He backs up several paces and calls out to the retinue.
“Hey, do you know where there’s a jazz club?”
He’s caught them off guard, and they stare at him blankly like a herd of heifers. Finally, a heavily tattooed one states there’s a club three blocks away. The pianist thanks him, gets directions, then goes and changes his clothes. When he passes the make-up staff again, on his way to the exit, the entourage doesn’t recognize him: he’s dressed in stained jeans, a long-sleeved, half-zipped hoodie and a knit cap pulled low over his hair and forehead. He looks like the maintenance man.
Once on the street, he pulls a harmonica out of his pocket and presses the instrument to his lips. He plays the blues in time with his slow strut up the urban street. When he reaches the closest intersection, it is choked with pedestrians, out enjoying the temperate fall evening. Some are walking home from work. Others seek a late dinner at one of many sidewalk cafes and pubs dotting the boulevard.
The pianist is hungry. He shoves his hand into his pocket and extracts his wallet. It’s empty. No cash.
“Damn. I’ve been picked by some stage hand again.”
He sounds more dejected than angry. He should know better. It’s for this very reason that he’s quit carrying a credit card to performance venues. He’s tired of the hassle of reporting lost cards. He’s learned to leave the card in the hotel safe and just carry a few bucks in his wallet. Most of the time, he stashes the wallet somewhere in the dressing room. Tonight he simply stuck the wallet inside one of his shoes. Big mistake.
He pivots on his heel, and starts to retrace his steps. His hotel adjoins the concert hall. He rolls his tongue in his throat, mimicking regurgitation. The thought of hotel food nauseates him.
The proximate noise of table conversation, the laughter of bar maids, the clink of glasses and flatware hook him. He rethinks his options. The well-lighted street is full of people. Most seem in good spirits: walkers are unhurried, diners are outside, those waiting in line for a table are talking animatedly with those around them. It’s a jovial vibe.
He positions himself under a street light, pulls the knit cap from his head, and places it on the ground in between himself and the sidewalk traffic. It’ll do to collect money. He plays his harmonica with eyes closed, wailing notes lilting softly over the thoroughfare. He plays from his soul, undisturbed by repetitive clinks from a mounting number of coins thrown in the cap by passersby. It takes about an hour to accumulate enough money to buy dinner. In the time he’s been playing, the dinner rush passes. Tables open up at each eatery.
Carrying his cap like a money bag of old, he finds the jazz club, goes inside and claims a table. He piles the coins in dollar stacks in front of himself before perusing the menu. He meets the waiter’s sarcastic smile with a wink. He orders an Irish beer and a bacon cheeseburger.
His plate is set in front of him during the best saxophone riff he’s ever heard. The waiter keeps silent, but asks with his eyes about another beer. The hungry street performer hands the waiter his empty glass. He bites the sandwich to find the burger is cooked perfectly. The bacon is crisp, the cheese sharp, and the sandwich hot. While he devours half of it, the jazz ensemble’s performance sizzles. Great music, good eats; it doesn’t get much better.
It’s the day’s end he’s been dreaming of.
Song Prompt Recommendation from T
My e-friend T recommends the following song prompt for your writing pleasure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asJ6AQt-wKI
“Autumn Leaves” by Louis Prima and Keely Smith
Musique Concrete
As I listened to this piece of music, composed in 1948 solely from the sounds a train makes, vivid images came to mind. It surprised me how quickly a story started forming in my head. However, it is weeks earlier than this song prompt will post as I write this. So I’ll have to wait to see what happens when I listen to this “music” again. This may be the most interesting song prompt yet, since its melody is composed from environmental sound.
Title: Etude aux Chemins de Fer
Composer: Pierre Schaeffer
A Song Prompt That’s a Study in Contrasts
Again, I gotta thank mskatykins for this prompt recommendation. I chose a version of the song that offers a study in contrasts. I hope you enjoy “Bizet Had His Day” as performed in Tokyo by Jolly Fellow’s Jazz Orchestra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7CiUOkFgY
And just in case the version above doesn’t do it for you, try listening to this one:
Fay Moore: I Want To Be a Writer 